Contract worker injured in flash fire sues Formosa

A contractor suffering from burns on more than 60 percent of his body wants Formosa to pay his hospital bill, among other things.

Steven Rene Vasquez, whose age was not available, of Victoria County, sued the company and its Point Comfort plant general manager Randy Smith on June 14 - about a month and a half after a flash fire in its polyethylene unit injured 14 workers.

The day of the fire, May 2, Vasquez, an employee of Palacios Marine & Industrial, or PMI, was climbing down from scaffolding near an out-of-service reactor.

That same reactor emitted an "unusual chemical odor" before the fire, Vasquez said in court documents.

Formosa knew about the odor and authorized work nearby anyway, according to the documents.

The fire erupted after the reactor's pressure spiked and oxygen mixed with the chemicals it contained, according to the lawsuit.

Vasquez was engulfed in super-heated air and knocked from the scaffolding. He also injured his lungs and broke several bones.

He was flown by helicopter to the Memorial Hermann Trauma Institute in Houston. Doctors released him July 2.